Not Rejoicing on the 4th Today . . .

by Steve Ray on July 4, 2009

. . . I am discouraged about our country. The Founders would roll over and groan in their graves if they saw where their beloved country has strayed. We are killing our babies, sanctioning homosexuality, changing the definition of marriage, sending pornography around the world and a host of other evils.

On top of that the men who valued freedom and Independence would be disgusted with the growth of the government they said should be bound in the chains of the Constitution. It has broken the bonds, becoming socialist and now has encroached into every area of our lives and pockets.

Both political parties have raped our country, borrowed money with the burden of unforgivable debt dumped on the shoulders of my kids and grandkids. With few exceptions the politicians have failed to stand courageously for the original ideals of this land that made it great. This is no longer the land the Founders suffered to establish nor the land they envisioned. Politically I am now a Catholic Conservative Independent!

So today, while I remember the great generations of heroes that gave this great land its birth and defended it over the years, I am dismayed by the direction the United States is now taking. I don’t see it turning around. The socialist, immoral, entitlement trend it too entrenched and the momentum too strong. That’s why our flag is at half mast. I am always an optimist, but with this I tend to be very pessimistic.

Don’t get me wrong. I love America. I travel a lot and see many lands and governments, many economies and peoples — and I am always delighted to step off the plane back in America. It is because I love this country that I am dismayed! I don’t believe my grandkids will grow up to know the same country of morality, freedom, enterprise and goodness that I have known.

What do we know about the Founders of this country? They suffered for their Declaration of Independence. It is worth reading about these great men and what they did for us. Oh, that we had such conservative, principled, and honest men today! Click here for their stories.

These United States were founded as a Christian Constitutional Republic, NOT as a secular atheist humanist national demokracy. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and all the rest would vomit over the filth that occupies the White House today.

I completely agree! It’s sad what is happening to our great country. Now more than ever, we need to pray to Our Lady for her intercession for our nation!! I think it was Reagan who said something to the effect, “if we ever forget we are a nation under God, we will be a nation gone under”. That is so true and we can see it happening before our eyes right now. How sad!!

Steve,
I’ll join you in the Catholic Conservative Independent party! Who among us will run for office first? :)

I think I’ve gone through all the stages of grief for this country and have come to the “acceptance” phase. I think all of this has to happen to get people to turn back to God. I heard someone say recently, when a people are too fat and happy, they can’t find the floor with their knees.

God will make good out of all our suffering. And as much as I deplore the idea of my children growing up in this new America, I’ll gladly take it if it means that more souls will be saved.

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Report March 27, 1854
“Had the people [the Founding Fathers], during the Revolution, a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle… At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and its amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect [denomination].”

The report continued: “In this age, there is no substitute for Christianity…That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.”

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Report (two months later)
“The great vital and conservative element in our system [the thing that holds our system together] is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Reynolds v. United States (Oct. 1878)
U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was permissible to use Christian morals and values in public policy.

Then in the mid-20th century the Supreme Court decided to not rely on previous Supreme Court rulings and create their own philosophy:

Everson v. Board of Education (1947) (using Jeffersons Letter to the Danbury Baptists)
“The First Amendment has erected a ‘wall of separation between church and state’. That wall must be kept high and impregnable.”

Baer v. Kolmorgen (1958)
A dissenting judge warned that continuing to talk about the “separation of church and state” would make people think it was part of the Constitution.

Engel v. Vitale – JUNE 25, 1962

This case for the first time separated Christian principles from education. It struck down school prayer.

For 170 years before the case the court defined “church” as being a federally established denomination. This 1962 case redefined “church” to mean any religious activity performed in public.

So this now redefines the First Amendment from restricting the establishment of a federal denomination to prohibiting any religious activity in the public square.

NO PRECEDENTS:
It did not quote any previous legal cases or historical incidents.

“If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be and…had been psychologically harmful to the child.”

NO PRECEDENT

Reed v. Van Hoven (1965)
– Allowed prayer over lunch in school as long as no one could tell it was a prayer

DeKalb v. DeSpain (1967)
– a 4 line nursery rhyme was ruled unconstitutional. The reason: “although the word “God” was not mentioned, if someone were to hear the rhyme he might think it was talking about God.”

Stone v. Graham (1980)

If the posted copies of the 10 commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments… [which] is not a permissible objective.”

The Supreme Court in the 20th century helped to set us politically on the path we are on, definitely nit in accord with the founders.

To wit;
James Wilson, Signor of the Constitution, US Supreme Court Justice, wrote some of the first commentaries on the Constitution.

“Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine. Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The Divine Law…forms an essential part of both.”

The question is can we get back to our “roots” or must we wait for our own destruction first?